Is eight enough? Probably not for most fans of Breaking Bad. But eight episodes is all we have left in the saga of chemistry teacher-turned-meth lord Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and his student-turned-partner Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). The second half of the fifth and final season debuts tonight at 9 p.m. on AMC, and you are strongly advised to fasten your safety belts. “The final 8 is just such a violent sprint to the finish line,” Paul tells EW. “Each season we get progressively darker and darker, and this final season is hands down the darkest one yet. It’s just so raw and it doesn’t allow the audience to breathe because we don’t have time to do that.” Cranston agrees, calling it “brutal” and noting that it “does not let up. It’s not going to give you a break.”

While series creator Vince Gilligan says he was surprised at how much story needed to be told in the last batch of episodes, he still believes that it was a wise decision to end the critically lauded drama now. “As much as I love this job, as wonderful as it has been, as sad as it is at the thought of this family dispersing to the four winds, I really feel, storywise, the time is right for this to end,” he says. “I don’t want to overstay our welcome. One thing I’m pleased about and grateful for is that I haven’t second-guessed the concept of ending the show since we decided to.”

He also sounds pretty happy with the series finale. To read what he had to say about the final eight episodes, click here.